Does Nick Diaz stand any chance whatsoever against Georges St-Pierre? Is Roy Nelson, from a purely visual standpoint, the absolute worst fighter to get knocked out by? And what’s a bigger first step for the UFC – the first female fight or the first openly gay fighter?

This edition of the Twitter Mailbag seeks to answer all these questions, plus some other stuff. You can ask a query of your own by addressing it to @BenFowlkesMMA, or you can just sit back and soak in some knowledge. The choice is yours, dear reader.

Now let’s open up this week’s TMB and get busy.

TontonKopsy @TontonKopsy
@benfowlkesMMA #TMB Is Diaz capable of any significant adjustment in his game for the GSP fight? Can the team come out w/ a clever gameplan?

I asked Carlos Condit what he thought of that matchup, since he’s spent a combined 10 rounds in the cage with Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz. Not surprisingly, he doesn’t think Diaz earned the shot, but, he said, “If Nick can kind of bring a dynamic style and utilize his jiu-jitsu more, I think he could have a chance.”

Is it a great chance? Probably not. But a couple things we know about Diaz are that 1) he doesn’t mind getting hit, and 2) he never stops coming forward, even when he probably should. If he can pressure GSP into making a mistake off a takedown attempt, maybe he can lock up a submission. Maybe he can simply trash-talk GSP into a state of blind rage, at which point the champ’s savvy will give way to a sloppy all-out attack. You know, maybe. There’s a chance, as Condit said. But, he quickly added, “I would put my money on Georges.”

Albert Hantigua @stealthninjago
@benfowlkesmma When all else is equal, is it better for an MMA fight to include mutual animosity (GSP-Diaz) or respect (Cain-JDS)? #mailbag

It’s better for the emotions and the relationship (or lack thereof) between two fighters to be genuine, regardless of what that is. If they don’t hate each other, please, let’s not try and pretend they do. It makes that narrative feel even more stale in the rare instances where there’s true animosity. Playing up the bad blood angle is lazy promoting. I understand why MMA organizations do it – it works, often enough – but it’s unnecessary. The Junior dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez heavyweight title fight is a great example. Here are two great big men, each capable of fantastic feats of violence, and they’re about to take their shirts off and try to beat each other up. This isn’t a reality TV show. They don’t need to be angry at each other in order for us to see them fight. Hand-to-hand combat is guaranteed. Isn’t that enough?

Yes, there is. For all the complaining we could do about Diaz’s title shot – and we could, we have – at least he’s a real welterweight. He’s been one for years, was a champion at that weight in another organization and isn’t just fleeing one division for another because his prospects have dimmed, which is exactly what Sonnen did. All the people who are now screaming that Diaz has no chance against GSP, that he’ll simply get taken down and elbowed into ground beef for five rounds, didn’t seem to feel quite as indignant about it the first time Diaz was offered a title shot. Remember that? Back when Diaz seemed like the logical choice for GSP’s next title defense? Then he screwed it up by going all Nick Diaz on his promotional responsibilities, which resulted in Condit getting the shot instead, though before that could happen GSP blew his knee out and Diaz ended up getting decisioned by Condit in an interim title fight. Man, this sport is weird sometimes, isn’t it?

Anyway, the point is that Diaz was once thought to be a worthy challenger for the welterweight title, whereas Sonnen was never even discussed as a top light heavyweight. He hasn’t even won a fight at 205 pounds in the UFC. He got his shot by talking it up and taking advantage of weird circumstances, which is the exact opposite of how Diaz lost his shot. If you want to complain about something, complain about that.

Here we go again with our collective concern for the hearts and minds of the “casual fan.” Tell me, who are these people who care enough about MMA to watch an FX fight card headlined by Roy Nelson and Matt Mitrione, yet not enough about it to either know or make an effort to find out who Nelson is and why he matters?

Not that I’m saying such people don’t exist – supposedly about a million of them watched old UFC fights on Spike TV the night the UFC debuted on FOX with a heavyweight title fight, so we’ve got no shortage of idiots manning remote controls out there – but I do wonder if we don’t stress too much over what they think. Yes, to the man on the street, Nelson might look more like the dude who collects their trash than the dude who should be fighting for a living. Going off looks alone, they might never expect a former NFL lineman to get knocked out by him. But once they see for it themselves, aren’t they more likely to be pleasantly surprised by Nelson rather than disgusted with Mitrione? And if they know/care so little about this sport to begin with, who’s to say they’ll even remember that Mitrione was the one who got starched by the bearded fat man? The people who know this sport know that Nelson has knocked out plenty of good fighters. The people who don’t know just got their first lesson.

You trying to make me go off about the meaninglessness of pound-for-pound rankings again, Mr. Patton? The short version is: They don’t matter. The longer version is: They don’t matter for some of the same reasons you just touched on.

Junior Dos Santos is a 240-pound heavyweight. The last time he fought, he beat a 260-pound Frank Mir. Does he get more credits added to his pound-for-pound account for that win? How about when he fights Cain Velasquez again, who also hovers around the 240-pound mark? Does he get less of a P4P bump for that fight than he would for beating up a larger, though less-skilled opponent? That’s the thing about the pound-for-pound debate that really makes me want to put my head through the wall. As much as people love to argue about it, they can’t agree on what it means. Does it mean that you could beat up bigger opponents? Does it mean you’re better against people your own size than other champs are against guys their size? Does it seek to tell us who would win if all fighters were shrunk down to the size of beagles and had themselves a battle royale in an adorable little cage? JDS is currently the best heavyweight in the world, but there’s no way to know whether he’s a better heavyweight than Dominick Cruz is a bantamweight. Seriously, we will never, ever have a conclusive answer to that. Ever. And you know what? That’s totally fine.

For starters, Liz Carmouche becomes the UFC 135-pound women’s champion. Then Dana White mutters some curse words under his breath before pretending to be totally fine with it.

I’m kidding … kind of. It’s no secret that White wants to be in the Rousey business. He’s made that pretty clear. Carmouche is there because Rousey has to fight someone, and because Carmouche volunteered to be that someone. Rousey is a 12-to-1 favorite as of this writing, so few are expecting Carmouche to be much more than an opponent in a showcase fight for the jewel of women’s MMA. Given the way the UFC has approached this, it’s fair to ask whether it will remain interested in the women’s division even if Rousey isn’t the champ. Even White admits that she is the sole reason he changed his mind about allowing women in the UFC, so what happens if she loses?

If anything, I think it would be better for Rousey to lose this fight rather than a subsequent one. Even White couldn’t possibly justify pulling the plug on women’s MMA after one fight, especially if the new champ is the lovable underdog who served her country in the Marines. I think we can agree that “Gay Veteran Wins Title, UFC President Disappointed” is the last headline White needs right now. If Carmouche shocks the world, my guess is Rousey will either get an immediate rematch or, at the most, she’ll be asked to win one easy fight before getting another crack at the belt. Also, my guess is that none of this will be an issue, because Carmouche probably isn’t going to win.

christian cain @TN_WINS
@benfowlkesMMA If wet get an injury miracle and Chael misses the Jones fight, who do you want to see replace him? Please say Anderson Silva.

You actually think Chael P. Sonnen would withdraw from a fight due to an injury? Not a chance. Haven’t you heard that part of his spiel? He could lose a leg in a gator attack, but when they play his music and call his name he’s still going to bite down on that mouthpiece and make that walk. Besides, even if he was injured, all it would do is knock his chances down from slim to none. He’d still get paid for showing up.

If you want to worry about someone in that fight, worry about Jon Jones. He’s the one who injured his arm in his last fight. He’s also the one who showed up in Seattle and told reporters that rehab on that injury was going … OK, but it was complicated by his TUF responsibilities. Did he sound overly enthusiastic about his road to full recovery? He did not.

vincent mann @dogsandguns
@benfowlkesMMA do you think @mattmitrione has a glass jaw, and no ground game, and if so should he be in the ufc?

Mitrione has been TKO’d once, by one of the heaviest hitters in the division. Before that, he lost a decision due largely to Cheick Kongo’s wall-and-stall tactics and his own reluctance to go on the attack. Those are his only two losses as a professional so far, so let’s not try and draw too many broad conclusions just yet. He came to MMA late, still has fewer than 10 pro fights, and is fighting way above his experience level. He’s got talent, but does he have enough time to develop it in the world’s toughest MMA organization? That’s what we’re waiting to find out. Let’s calm down and wait some more.

Andrew Lawrence @TheClownKid
@BenFowlkesMMA #TMB Why is no one mentioning Shayna Baszler going to the UFC? She was robbed against McMann & she is just a mean fighter…

Who says no one’s mentioning it? I’ve been talking up Baszler since UFC President Dana White first began his pro-Ronda Rousey campaign. It seems like Rousey’s name hardly ever comes up on the CME podcast without Baszler’s following soon after, and for the reasons you mentioned. She’s got a good submissions game, sharp stand-up, and she fights like she’s got the heart of a medieval dungeon-master. White says he likes Rousey because she’s mean and nasty? Wait until he meets Baszler. He’ll probably have to do a little research on her first, since he only seems to know the names of about three or four female fighters, but once someone sits him down and shows him clips of her stomping on Sarah D’Alelio’s ankle, he might come around.

Ryan Normand @MrNormand
@benfowlkesMMA will ufc ever move to a format similar to Bellator for title shots or will it always be your guess is as good as mine style?

I think if Bjorn Rebney were being honest, he’d tell you that there are times when Bellator’s tournament-dictated matchmaking is a real pain in the neck. Some of that is evidenced by how the organization is planning to change its rules on title defenses going forward (also known as the Eddie Alvarez Rule). Fight promoters have to put butts in seats, and sometimes you need a little flexibility in your matchmaking to make that happen. Bellator is limited by the tournament structure, but it also needs that tournament to give it some sort of unique selling proposition. It’s not an off-brand UFC; it’s a totally different thing. See? There’s the tournament to prove it.

That works for Bellator, but it also limits it at times. The UFC doesn’t need a tournament format just to stand out. Even when it has done mini-tournaments, like the four-man deal to crown its first flyweight champ, White resisted calling it a tournament because, as he said, he “hates” them. Sorry to those of you who were hoping to see a PRIDE-style Grand Prix to determine the next UFC light heavyweight challenger. Ain’t gonna happen.

Jay Bradley @jmichaelbrad
@benfowlkesMMA What’s more important? The first female UFC fighter or the first openly gay UFC fighter? #tmb

They both represent pretty giant leaps for the UFC, but let’s be honest here and admit that in American sports culture – particularly in contact sports, like MMA – there’s a big difference between attitudes toward lesbian women and attitudes toward gay men. That’s not to say it’s no big deal for Carmouche to be the first openly homosexual fighter to compete in the UFC – it is. But I have a feeling that many of the same fans who have zero problem with seeing a lesbian compete in a UFC main event would not feel quite so comfortable watching a gay man headline a pay-per-view. There just isn’t that same stigma attached to homosexuality in many women’s sports. If anything, a lot of people are ready to assume that a successful female athlete is a lesbian, whereas male athletes still use the mere accusation of homosexuality as a sort of nuclear option against each other.

That attitude toward male homosexuality in sports is stupid and embarrassing and bigoted, and it has to change. I think it will change, eventually. I really hope we get to a point where we only care how well someone can fight, and not who they’ll be grinding on after too many drinks at the after-party. Sadly, I don’t think we’re there yet. I think MMA in particular still has a lot of fans who hold bigoted attitudes toward gay men, which is a damn shame. Maybe Carmouche can begin to change some minds there. My suspicion is that there are more people willing to get worked up over the fact that two women are taking the main event spot (dry those tears, Dan Henderson fans) than the fact that one of them is a lesbian. Maybe that’s a good thing. Once those people get used to the idea that sexual orientation has nothing to do with how good a fighter someone is, maybe they’ll think it’s no big deal when the UFC has an openly gay male fighter. I hope so.

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is probably the greatest female fighter on the planet, which is a tremendous feat. So why are we seemingly so obsessed with arguing about whether she could beat up men?